The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1887-09-16
RAG-PICKING CLASSES.
The Blue Blood Owners of Horses
and Wagons.
Aristocrats Of the Hand-Cart-The Com
mon Rummagers OF Early Morning
and Late Nlght-Swarming Life
Near the Dumps.

Aristocrats Of the Hand-Cart-The Com
mon Rummagers OF Early Morning
and Late Nlght-Swarming Life
Near the Dumps.
Rag-pickers form very important
element of the busy population of a
great city like Brooklyn, and a careful
observation of their methods will re-
veal some curious and interesting facts.
They are properly divided into four dis
tinct classes, each having separate
field of action and seldom infringing
upon the territory of the other divi-
sions of the fraternity. The first class
who could quite properly be called the
upper ten of ragpickerdom includes
the itinerant dealers who conduct their
business by means Of dilapidated look
ing horses and wagons. They would
undoubtedly Indignantly resent their
classification with ordinary rag-pick-
ers, but candor compels me TO name
them as such. They pay an annual
license fee of three dollars for the priv
ilege of buying the city's rubbish, and
according to the last years returns 529
were permitted to roam through our
highways. They pay higher price for
goods than the men who propel the
hand-carts, and frequently hire shops
of their own for assortment and stor-
age of their purchases. They generally
carry on a thriving business, and from
long experience and acquaintance know
where the choicest rags are found.
They have regular dates for calling on
small tailoring establishments in order
to secure the cuttings and trimmings
which are too small to be used by rag
carpet manufacturers. They also get
the pickings Of small shirt factories,
printing houses, book binderies and
The second class comprises the army
OF hand-cart dealers who can be seen
every day pushing their trucks, adorned
vlth nom one to score of motley
shaped, sized and toned bells, along in
front Of them. They are avaricious in
their dealings. manage to live in mod
crate circumstance and are willing to
purchase number of articles which
most people classify as rubbish. But
what is rubbish to some people is gold
to Others. Old bottles, rags, rope, iron
and other metals, bones and old car
pets and multitude Of similar articles
are thus bought by the thousands of |
pounds daily. This class is always |
well posted in the tricks of the trade.
and have certain streets which they
have drummed for years. By long ex-
pcrience they learn which Of their ems
toners win sell their rags at any price.
and which viii haggle with them over
the last penny. They often find un-
expected treasures in their purchases.
and rarely return any thing val
nable that thus comes within
their clutch One Of these peddlers
once discovered among . bundle Of .
rags he had purchased an old coat I
which was almost equal to = modern I
'afe deposit vault. For, ON rippinr | /
,pen the dilapidated garment he 1
ound. securely sewed in the Hnino1 | !
everal hundred dollars worth Of bank {
lotes. Astounded by this unexpected .
eveiation, he made further investie.- !
ions. which showed that the buttons /,
vere I'VE dollar gold pieces neatly COW v
red with cloth. That there are peo- q
le who prefer to hide their money Il
bout their house or clothing, rather =
Ian max Il in savings banks, which 5
AZ such small percentage ON de- 3,
Oglts, can not be doubted Al<ho,,r.a =,